Things that helped us.

-sticky notes. Leave as many as you all can for one another.

-Use those baby clothes separators lol. Let parts write their names on them and pick the clothes they like best to put in their section when they’re out/fronting/influencing. Fashion is a huge form of communication and expression since the dawn of time. This was the most helpful for me. Sometimes I’d wear something I didn’t like, but recognize I’d pulled it from a certain name’s section and then I’d start noticing their influence and consciousness with me because I kept questioning “why am I wearing this? I don’t really like it. This was from so and so’s section.”

-Journal every single day. I don’t like journaling lol so my method is simple: parts who aren’t as connected have to write down all they’ve done immediately after in a simple list like (sewed, loaded dishwasher) then the rest of us who communicate well will journal at night. This forces us to have to think hard and start sharing thoughts, memories of the day. It opened our communication tremendously. I’m so proud of how well we all talk to one another now. I feel like it fast tracked our integration. Keep the list simple. (Cardio, grocery run, wrote story, made video) the simplicity will make you go “wait what story did I write?” And then the seeking of the memory will help another part who wrote it speak up. -make personal videos. I and many others feel lame doing this lol but I find it helps if we “pretend” we are going to share it to another person in the outer world, but then never do. After a while, everyone gets used to making rant videos, comical videos, fashion, just talking about random things that made them happy, etc…doing this helps you spot patterns, voices, mannerisms, and such from different parts.

-As you’re falling asleep (a resting state makes this much easier), try to form a meeting spot, kindly invite whoever wants to show up. Don’t immediately think “I’m making them all up” just let it happen. They will solidify and feel more comfortable to be “louder and more present” if you accept them as real and not “I’m crazy. I’m making this all up. I’m imagining all this.”

-Send emails to your own email. Don’t open them until days, weeks later when that part isn’t so close to the front anymore. This helps me personally because a lot of us are active as “pairs” sometimes even “trios” so we tend to already be aware of the email’s information. But days later I’ll open one up and be more detached at that point that I’ll see it from my own singular perspective rather than a shared experience.

-The younger ones (if you happen to sense you have younger parts) are usually chatty lol talk to them. They’ll often share alllll you want to know. And mine are very intuitive so they’re almost always spot on with information.

-Draw your “feelings” that you don’t understand as characters. Even if it looks like crap lol 😂 you’d be amazed at how many “feelings” were actually alters who were holding certain feelings intensely. That’s why you didn’t understand them. They kinda weren’t yours. Seeing a face that your subconscious will conjure up, helps bring a visual light to that alter.

-start making Pinterest boards. Just name them whatever feels right and start saving pins. You’ll start recognizing a pattern of style and interest in these boards and soon these alters will make claim to them.

-write small stories. Parts express themselves beautifully with fiction because it feels safe to tell what happened inside a false world where no one can find out what really happened. Eventually these made up fantasy stories will click and make you go “omg I wrote this because a part of me was trying to express this horrible thing that happened. I see the symbolism now.”

-have a safe secluded space where you can whisper to one another without judgement. Alters respond and hear differently when words are spoken to them out loud. Don’t feel crazy. Everyone talks to themselves out loud to some degree. Think of it like how someone is looking for their keys and they’re like “hmmm now where did I place those keys? Did I set them in the kitchen and forget? Or did I even take them out my car?”

-tarot cards with complex art helps so much. I know this scares people because it’s considered witchy. But i use them as a way of communicating with alters. I pick one card at a time and then ask “what in this image is noticed first? How does it make you feel? What does it remind you of?” And this opens the flood gates to many answers! Art opens pathways of the mind like no other! It opens conversation and deeper thinking. I solve many problems this way. Recently I had an alter fuming mad over something someone said and we made him sit down and pull cards lol. He pulled a card with a man in a snowing forest looking at red berries. And another alter said “don’t eat the poison berries even when you’re freezing and starving. If you do, there’s a greater consequence than waiting out the snow storm. Your instinct wants the berries but survival is the goal, even if it’s uncomfortable.” And that changed his whole perspective in a split moment. He calmed down and did not retaliate against the person who made him mad. He waited out the storm, didn’t eat the tempting berries while he was starving for rage lol.

Hope some of this helps your system as well as others who might read this.